European leaders call for talks to settle US spy row

France and Germany want to hold talks with the US by the end of the year to settle a row over spying, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

It follows claims that her mobile phone and millions of French calls have been monitored by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

Mrs Merkel said once seeds of mistrust had been sown, it made co-operation on intelligence more difficult.

The row over alleged spying continues to overshadow an EU summit in Brussels.

Speaking at the end of the first day of the talks, Mrs Merkel said France and Germany wanted to “create a framework” with the US on surveillance.

She stressed that she wanted to look for a basis to move forward with Washington, and that she was looking for deeds not just apologetic words.

Herman Van Rompuy said other EU countries could join France and Germany in talks with the US”It’s become clear that for the future, something must change – and significantly,” Mrs Merkel said.

“We will put all efforts into forging a joint understanding by the end of the year for the co-operation of the (intelligence) agencies between Germany and the US, and France and the US, to create a framework for the co-operation.”

At a separate news conference, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said EU leaders “took note of the intention of France and Germany to seek bilateral talks with the US”.

Other countries would be “free to join this initiative,” he said.

Mr Rompuy said intelligence gathering was a vital weapon against terrorism but it would be prejudiced by “a lack of trust”.

Mrs Merkel has demanded a “complete explanation” of the phone-tapping claims, which emerged in the German media.

She raised her concerns with US President Barack Obama in a call on Wednesday.

French President Francois Hollande has also expressed alarm at reports that French phone calls had been monitored.

Italy’s weekly L’Espresso has reported that the US and UK have been spying on Italian internet and phone traffic.

The revelations were sourced to US whistleblower Edward Snowden. It is alleged that the NSA and UK spy centre GCHQ eavesdropped on three undersea cables with terminals in Italy.

And in another development, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that the NSA had monitored the phones of 35 world leaders after being given their numbers by a US government official. Again, Edward Snowden was the source of the report.